Resolved: The United States ought to ban autonomous lethal weapons.
1AC
V/C: Morality → Maximize Wellbeing (Killing by algorithm increases catastrophic risk). C1 — Accidental war risk: Autonomy errors escalate conflict. C2 — Accountability: No responsible agent → moral hazard. Spikes: No new in 2NR/2AR; rights to life outweigh tech advantages.
1NC
CP — Moratorium + Verification Regime (PIC): Delay deployment pending international verification framework; research transparency. Net benefit: Avoids adversary advantage and preserves deterrence while solving errors. DA — Deterrence Gap: Immediate ban signals weakness → adversary races ahead → coercive leverage shifts. K — Security: Aff constructs threat in a way that legitimizes exceptional measures.
1AR
CP: Perm do both—ban deployment now and initiate verification; CP doesn’t solve moral hazard (solvency deficit: accountability). DA: No link—ban narrows accident pathways and stabilizes; even if some deterrence loss, timeframe/prob favors preventing near-term accidents. K: No link—our story is anti-exceptionalism; perm under care-centered security. Weighing: Probability/timeframe—accident risk is near-term and irreversible; deterrence shifts are speculative and reversible.
NR
Collapse CP+DA: Competition: Perm fails—ban forecloses verification regime’s testing steps; cannot do both fully. Net benefit: Deterrence preserved with reduced accident risk via controlled moratorium; aff fail-safes are untested. Comparative: Even if some moral hazard persists, CP world minimizes both accident and adversary exploitation risks.
2AR
Judge instruction: Our perm is logically coherent—policy ban + international verification startup; CP doesn’t solve accountability. On weighing, near-term accident deaths outweigh speculative deterrence shifts (timeframe/reversibility). Vote Aff.